Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of best boy arguments in my time. I have battle scars to prove it. With Final Fantasy XV having a party formed exclusively of four handsome young men on a road trip, Square Enix seemed to be baiting debate.

But, curiously, Square Enix seem to have unapologetically doubled down on their own answer with their final (and best) piece of DLC for the Season Pass, Episode Ignis. And the Golden Frieza for Best Boy goes to… Ignis.

Anything and everything can win a Golden Frieza award (for better or worse) in The Oscar’s Oscars, the most prestigious award show ever invented.

(The last half of this article has spoilers for Final Fantasy XV and its Episode Ignis DLC)

Why is Episode Ignis the best bit of DLC for Final Fantasy XV? Well, if you want my expertly crafted critique, you need look no further than my very own review of Episode Ignis located somewhere around here. But there’s more to it than it simply being a good slice of game.

The true glory of Episode Ignis, and what makes it such a must-play for any Final Fantasy XV fan, is how much Square Enix have doubled down on making it as celebratory of Ignis as possible. Sure, the other DLCs for Gladio and Prompto have their fair share of nice moments for their respective fans, but none reach the heights of Episode Ignis.

Episode Ignis tells the story of how, in Niflheim’s attack on Altissia, Ignis basically single-handedly saved Noctis, and also, just for a laugh, liberated a large chunk of the city from Niflheim control. Despite taking a fairly support role in battles in the main game, here Ignis can imbue his spelldaggers with magic to help him in basically any situation.

Using a grappling hook he can zip wherever he wants, and those tough mechs from the main game can be dispatched effortlessly using a simple QTE. I guess he was hiding his true power level around the rest of the gang before.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE DLC AND THE MAIN GAME

It’s glorious because Episode Ignis is almost just pure fanfiction. Except, of course, it’s an official part of the story. After the attack happens in the main game Ignis is blinded. You assume it’s just because he was injured in battle, but nobody ever mentions that it’s actually because Ignis was deemed worthy of wielding the Ring of the Lucii, giving up his vision as payment for temporary use of its power.

Ignis is so much the best boy of the group, that even the spectral Kings of Lucis recognise it, and allow him to effectively transform into a Super Saiyan. As a sidenote, I also love how the world of Final Fantasy XV literally has a super-powered magic ring that’s exclusively able to be wielded by best boys (and presumably, if they tried, best gals too).

But the fun and heaps of love for Ignis don’t stop there. Not only is he able to earn the blessings of the gods due to his best boy purity, but the DLC even allows you to explore an alternate ending to the main game as a whole. In this ending, Ignis is taken to the near-end-game location, Zegnatus Keep, where he able to power up to Super Ignis Lv 3 using the full power of the ring in order to almost destroy Ardyn completely solo.

Thanks to being best boy, this changes the events of the game so that Noctis ends up not having to sacrifice himself, and everyone ends up living happily ever after. Replace “Noctis” with “Sonic, and “Ignis” with “Shadow”, and the description for this DLC is basically ripped straight out of my Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction. Sure, this alternate ending does undermine the poignancy of the actual ending, but it’s a great bit of fun, and amazing that it’s basically just “Ignis is so great that really he could have just saved everyone”.

It’s ludicrous how far Square Enix went with Episode Ignis to really push him into full on best boy fanfiction territory, and I can’t help but really, really love that element of it. Imagine if other games had the nerve to release DLC that was so straight up fan-servicey.

It’s honestly surprising that there’s no option to actually get Ignis to finally kiss Noctis. It might have even convinced me to buy the Royal Edition. Fan service DLC may really be the step forward.

You have to admire the audacity of it. And it’s well-deserved by Ignis, whose quiet loyalty and subtle care kept the whole party going throughout Final Fantasy XV’s story — always looking out for others, and always on hand to cook up a delicious new recipe to keep everyone in high spirits.

Ignis, you definitely deserve this Golden Frieza for Best Boy — and Square Enix weren’t shy about showing it.